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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1995)
^The Battalion Opinion 1544, be y ■ M {Wednesday [September 20, 1995 rr The Battalion Established in 1893 all TV 39". >7,1 'wil iities;| 3 500, viled, Tricii, Editorials appearing in The battalion reflect the views of the editorials board. I hey do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administration, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express the opinions of the authors. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. Editorials Board Rob Clark Editor in Chief Sterling Hayrnan Managing Editor Kyle Littlefield Opinion Editor Elizabeth Preston Assistant Opinion Editor Deja Vu wia The recent behavior of the College Republicans is unacceptable. 3-0251 will li| 30 p.ii iforiE Attieil 102,1 y wilt nitiej le I ivitel Triciil 394-8i ; J ig le; t for bra fee Cm slew mtj r morf ; 693-6: There? anyone rosse f Polo fit 4o expt nore ii 13-8805. j i(Pre-M« Fhere t est lecte r. ims 01 (1 meeli! in ing . to6'l>, West. Ft 845-0541 n: ing! >s Cat s): T •oup» [ary’s For' iy Caw ssotiali® e fortt« : iwa ,’s Stn* 1 format 1 ! 347 ssoda# t mass 11 Fait” 1 formal 547-2454 nation 5 "' CIS Sbon railed uq Wisf 11 mrchC®: ation c ,5-9325 In what is becoming habit ual behavior, the Texas A&M College Republicans have once again tarnished the rep utation of their organization and the entire University through their arrogance and irresponsible actions. Last year, in an attempt to protest affirmative action, members posted tasteless and offensive fliers around cam pus that belittled minorities. However, that incident pales in comparison to the current predicament the Col lege Republicans are in. Now it appears they have challenged University regu lations by sending out a fund-raising letter to Texas A&M alumni that contained blatantly erroneous informa tion. In doing so, they have also pointlessly discredited the administration and Texas A&M University. The content of the letter is outrageous, as it contains wrong information, improper solicitation for funds and un supported allegations. In the letter, L,ydia Perci- val, former College Republi cans president, charges that the proposed multiculturalism requirement passed by the “liberal” Faculty Senate “re quires students to take politi cally correct classes about the abuses of the white male in America ... forcing all stu dents to take a women’s stud ies class or a class on African- American history.” In reality, the proposal has not yet been signed, and there are nearly 200 classes from which to choose, includ ing sociohorticulture and the geography of Britain. In addition, Percival makes allegations that “President Bowen got his job by promis ing to sign this multicultural ism bill, and the left-wing pro fessors who hired him are get ting restless because he is dragging his feet.” The letter contains other outlandish statements regard ing free speech, homosexuali ty in the curriculum and more bizarre assertions about pro posed curriculum changes. Republicans have broken im portant rules regarding stu dent organizations. More importantly, howev er, they have disgraced this University. By grossly misrepresenting the environment of Texas A&M, the College Republi cans are tarnishing the image the University. Attacking the policies of Texas A&M and its adminis tration is perfectly accept able and sometimes should be encouraged, but deliber ately and deceitfully belit tling the University as a whole is deplorable and should not be tolerated. The College Republicans should be ashamed of their actions. While it is question able whether they violated any University regulations, they did violate a more im portant law — the Aggie Code of Honor. This code exists for the benefit of the students; it is what keeps the integrity and standards of Aggies among the highest in the nation. The actions of the College Republicans not only hurts Texas A&M, but more impor tantly, they discredit every thing Aggies stand for truth, honor and pride. Through their fundraising letter, the College Republi cans have sent the message to former students that none of those qualities exist at Texas A&M anymore. Fortunately, Dr. Bowen re sponded quickly and gracious ly to irate recipients of the let ter. He and the Faculty Senate have refuted with evidence all of the allegations made in Percival’s letter. The College Republicans have failed to substantiate any of their allegations. Although they have request ed 30 more days to substanti ate their claims, the facts pro vided by the administration leave little room for debate. In its current state, the College Republicans organiza tion appears incapable of con trolling itself. Finally, the solicitation of donations to “protect Texas A&M” showed poor taste. In addition, the guidelines listed in the Policies and Procedures Manual for Recognized Stu dent Organizations prohibits mass mail-outs designed specifically to solicit funds. By sending a mass mail-out to raise money, and by grossly misrepresenting the actions of the University administra tion, it appears the College Mail Justice obscured by petty lawsuits Brian Beckcom Columnist, E veryone knows the story by now. A hard-working American citizen needs a cup of coffee and pulls into the local McDonalds. The friendly worker serves up a cup of fresh coffee, and the citizen pulls happily away from the drive-thru. Suddenly, the car hits a bump in the road. The coffee spills. The citizen is scalded by the evil McDonalds coffee. In keeping with modem American tradi tion, the citizen sues McDonalds for a jillion dollars, wins and purchases Columbia. As a destitute college student, the story reminds me of an incident in my life. I remember it like it was yesterday. A group my close friends decided to celebrate a recent success with a trip to a burger joint in beautiful South Bryan. As I stood in line pondering what I would purchase, a certain menu item caught my watchful eye. “The Death Burger” it was called, and I felt the tug of a challenge. What could this burger do to my youthful insides that campus dining hadn’t already done? I quickly accepted the challenge, and ordered the burger and a beer. As I eyed the monster, I wondered what fate awaited me. I looked carefully at the burger’s bun. No warning signs or disclaimers. No age limits or pictures of a skull and crossbones. I then examined the toppings. I found no signs of the evil that lurked wdthin. I ob served the patty itself. It seemed like a per fectly normal piece of greasy American beef. The meat, like the rest of the conception, had no written disclaimers. Little did I realize that on that faithful autumn day, I was staring naively into the mm i k- . j ypf face of The Beast. I took the first bite of hell. As my friends watched, a bright blue flame shot out of my mouth. Without thinking, I reached for the nearest liquid substance. I never took CHEM 101, so I didn’t know that Tecate beer and death burgers cause a lethal chemical reaction. The inferno in my mouth would’ve made Dante cringe. As I begged For a quick death, my friends offered their assistance by laughing uncontrollably at me. At the time. I thought my only recourse was Maalox :1 a gallon of ice water. As a dutiful Ame m citizen, I realize now that I should have sued the burger joint, the beer company and the janitor who cleans the floor every night I realize it sounds like a silly proposition, but with the current trend of legalistic larce ny, suing a company for selling a spicy burg er would be entirely acceptable. The legal system in our country is in need of massive repair. Civil litigation and frivo lous lawsuits abound, while unchecked judges tear the foundation of our Constitu tion apart. Our republican system has be come a government by judicial decree. Lino Gralgia, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Texas, writes that “Justices have treated it (the 14th Amend ment) as an empty vessel into which they could pour any meaning” and goes on to ob serve that “(the Justices have) converted a system of government by the people primari ly on a local basis into a system of govern ment by judges from Washington, D.C.” I have a strong tendency to disagree with Mr. Graglia’s analysis. Our system of laws is being corrupted by a much more powerful force — the people. Lawyers don’t instigate lawsuits unless clients desire such lawsuits. While some lawyers actively pursue cases, most act on the wishes of their clients. The problem lies not with the law, but with the people who use the law. The prob lem is solvable, but only through complete overhaul of the present system. Penalties for frivolous lawsuits are a good start. Making the losing side pay the court fees of the winning side is another good op tion. Perhaps the best option, however, is the most difficult to implement. What price would you put on the life of your parents? Quite simply, no amount of ■ money is adequate. However, the increas ing awards given to plaintiffs in personal injury and wrongful death suits contradict this notion. We must establish some sort of cap on punitive damages. For example, suppose I actually decided to sue the burger joint for “personal injury, humiliation and gastric distress.” The judge could penalize me for being a stupid, spineless wimp and throw the case out of court. If the judge decides my case has merit, and a jury decides I’m just some jerk wast ing their time, they could make me pay for the defendant’s court cost. And, if I decide my Scalded tongue is worth S5 million, the punitive cap could ensure that my tongue doesn’t get valued at anything more than a couple of dollars. The pursuit of justice is ostensibly a noble calling. Unfortunately, it has become an op portunity for people to make money in dubi ous cases. Brian Beckcom is a senior computer science major Although it is important for Texas A&M to have groups representing the entire politi cal spectrum, it is doubtful that the organization can function responsibly in its present form. The students of this Uni versity should strongly re consider the viability of the College Republicans. This pattern of extreme, careless and insulting behavior should no longer be tolerated. Face value doesn’t depict total truth People often look at one characteristic and derive an entire personality [ S Ass" 011 ' reneral as m- e welco" 1 ! all Uw 93-# ion udent ities. I tel "' later bf of I* 1 " ition iol >ns, P 1 " 6 5-33H- Recent attacks on Greeks ridiculous I am writing in regards to the Sept. 12 The Battalion about the flag being disrespect ed by fraternities. The Greeks were accused of not loving Americans, Texans or even Aggies. To say that we are not patri otic is ridiculous. 1 am an active member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Two of the members in my chapter spent four years in the Corps of Cadets. Moreover, one of my other brothers left school to fulfill his duty in the Marine Corps to give aid in Somalia. Finally, two more active members are serving their country by joining the military. We are Aggies too. I thought Aggies looked out for other Aggies and that there is a special bond here at A&M . There is no reason to say that another Aggie, or his or her group, “tarnishes the Uni versity’s reputation and shames the name ‘Texas Ag gie.’” David Sanders Class of ’96 D uring high school, I participated in the Minnesota All- State Orchestra for sev eral summers. This gave me plenty of opportunities to watch the musically gifted and talented from a seat near the back of the rehearsal hall. My best friend and I were happy to giggle while others competed for top honors. From our places we had a good view and plenty of time to observe. One thing I kept noticing was that the concert master or mis tress, or the musical section leaders, got special treatment, and not just from the conductor. From the rest of the orchestra, most of the time. At social functions or meal times, dances or discussions, the best musicians were treated by everyone else as the Most Valu able Human Beings. My best friend and I, who inci dentally did not fall into the cate gory of brilliant violinists, were forced to hobnob with each other. No one else would have us. Since we were merely compe tent musicians, not stars, people seemed to treat us as though we were the clean-up crew. Perhaps I exaggerate — I’m sure we had one or two friends, but they were probably the musicians who sat behind us. I have seen this multiple times: in any organi zation or ac tivity, peo ple tend to have their worth judged by their proficiency in that particular activity. In other words, we stereotype and project during the process known as impression formation. In other words, we tend to think that people are good peo ple just because they are good at something. Let’s say you write for a maga zine. If you are bad at writing and editing, people at the magazine may assume that you are bad at other things, like school or bowl ing. Or telling jokes. Or, pretend that you join an intramural team but you are a poor athlete. Don’t be surprised if you leave by yourself while the rest of the team goes to DQ to celebrate after the game. People probably don’t want to hear your jokes after you missed all of your free throws. Imagine that you are a fifth- year senior taking introductory biology lab. You are struggling to pass, let alone to understand the experiments you are expect ed to perform. It’s doubtful that people from the lab are going to be calling you up on the weekend. In their eyes, your lack of smarts in the lab could translate into a lack of worth. And your jokes just won’t cut it. These scenarios may or may not have been lifted straight from my life, but that’s not im portant. (At least one of them is n’t exactly true.) The point is that my observa tions of this phenomena span nearly a decade. I think I know what I’m talking about here. And just in case, the 1994 Acad emic Review backs me up. See, Impression Formation:: “There is a tendency for peo ple to infer a whole personality from the perceived presence of only one trait. For example, knowing someone is intelligent leads most people to expect that the person is clever, active and reliable,” it reports. Sometimes we assume people who are attractive are intelli gent. Or, we think that being able to throw a football means that you know something about, well, about anything. You may or may not know something, but your passing arm has nothing to do with it. Like that actor who played a wise attorney on L.A.Law. Now he advertises for some medicine. Because he looks smart and played a kindly patriarchal type, we believe that he knows some thing about pharmacology. Doesn’t make a lot of sense when you break it down, but that doesn’t stop us from believing. (Personally I buy it because that actor looks just like my dad.) We tend to think people are good people just be cause they are talented. Here in Aggieland, we are not immune from this impression formation syndrome. In fact, we might be more guilty than other people. Around these parts, peo ple think that if you aren’t a good Ag, you probably aren’t a good person. If you don’t know how to whoop and gig’em and rebuild Bonfire with one hand behind your back, ‘good’ Ags might make all these other assump tions about you, and you are helpless to refute them. Now, me, I’m a good Ag — I * have nothing to worry about, but those people who aren’t don’t de serve contempt. I just need a lit tle help with biology. We all have our weaknesses and strengths; let’s just make sure we don’t judge people before we know a little about both. Erin Hill is a graduate pursuing a teaching certificate ‘tern liisa&H** MM IClKati iiHii. "‘•W liHI ; ’rt' ■o4n»„. if "'■‘■i' .n,; ,MW, -ir ' W; ii wwf II mni, m * II r.,